An Interview with the enigmatic Derek & Dave Philpott, authors of Dear Mr Pop Star

Everyone has a ‘first novel’, even if many of them are a rough draft relegated to the bottom and back of your desk drawer (or your external harddrive!). Have you been able to reshape yours, or have you abandoned it for good?

This isn’t a novel; it’s a second instalment of deliberately deranged and very funny letters to iconic rock and pop stars concerning the lyrics to their most popular songs, with equally witty in-on-the joke replies from the artists themselves. We did self publish the first installment many moons ago, but Dear Mr Pop Star is actually our first proper literary endeavour.

(Editor’s note: I think this still counts as a novel, even if it can’t be classified – or perhaps because it can’t be easily classified)

Some authors are able to pump out a novel a year and still be filled with inspiration. Is this the case for you, or do you like to let an idea percolate for a couple of years in order to get a beautiful novel?

Actually, in our case, this really doesn’t apply. We write letters and then send them off to the pop stars concerned never really knowing how long it will take them to respond, if they ever do. We don’t just fire these letters off; we do so with prior consent from the artists after they’ve informed us that they would like to be involved in the project. Then it’s a case of waiting and hoping that they’re kind and inspired enough to respond.

I have heard of writers that could only write in one place – then that cafe closed down and they could no longer write! Where do you find yourself writing most often, and on what medium (pen/paper or digital)? 

We get our ideas on the fly – we could be in the car listening to the radio, or listening to the in-store radio station in Superdrug, or watching a repeat of TOTP on the telly and a lyric will strike us as ridiculous, or something we can easily misinterpret. Then it’s a case of jotting the idea down as soon we can before it escapes, so we find ourselves with scribbled notes or something hurriedly typed into a document on the laptop. The seed of the letter is then worked up into a more elaborate correspondence, generally just sat in the living room. It’s not a terribly formal process and honestly, because each letter is standalone and there’s no over arching theme to tie in, we’re able just to do it in a more casual manner.

When you write, do you have any sense of other people reading your words?

I have to fight the realisation of that inevitability or else I wouldn’t write a word!

Before going on to hire an editor, most authors use beta-readers. How do you recruit your beta-readers, and choose an editor? Are you lucky enough to have loving family members who can read and comment on your novel? 

We self-published our first volume of these letters and so we recruited a small but dedicated army of family, friends and fans of our work to do all the proof reading and editing and to make sure it all made some kind of sense! We were very lucky that so many people were kind enough to give us their time. We even did all the distribution ourselves and hand-wrote address labels.  Looking back it was a mammoth undertaking. We’re relieved to say that this time Unbound, our publisher, is taking this work off of our hands.

I walk past bookshops and am drawn in by the smell of the books – ebooks simply don’t have the same attraction for me. Does this happen to you, and do you have a favourite bookshop? Or perhaps you are an e-reader fan… where do you source most of your material from? 

There is definitely something quite special about a physical printed book, the weight of it and the feel of it makes it a bit more of ‘a thing’. We’re incredibly excited to get hold of a copy of the hardback edition of Dear Mr Pop Star, because so much work has gone into the cover design and the typesetting and it promises to be a magnificent thing of beauty. That said, having e-books makes life a lot more convenient and perhaps, for some, not having to carry a paper book around, it might encourage them to be more prolific readers and anything that encourages folk to read more and use their imaginations is smashing.As for where we source our material, we don’t! What we’ve put together is entirely unique; no one has ever done this before and so we’ve just had to play it all by ear.

I used to find myself buying books in only one genre (fantasy) before I started writing this blog. What is your favourite genre, and have your tastes changed over time?

I’ve always been fascinated by mystery and mythology. When I was younger I read a lot of books about the folklore surrounding the Loch Ness ‘Monster’ and similar cryptids, I still have a deep interested in such things,  I am captivated by the rich ancient history of this country, such as Stonehenge and Avebury stone circles. I also love a good music biography, which I guess is no surprise considering the book we’ve just written.

Social media is a big thing, much to my disgust! I never have enough time myself to do what I feel is a good job. What do you do?

Oh, Social Media is one of the most important parts of what we do! The wonderful little community of Facebook friends we’ve built up have provided us with invaluable input and insights. Also it’s amazing how many links to pop stars we’ve found just through FB; there’s always a friend of a roadie, a cousin of a drummer, or even a musician themselves who are hiding on there. When we first started writing we made a profile and we were shocked when we reached 100 friends. Then it grew organically via word of mouth as others caught on to what we do. Suddenly we hit a thousand, then two thousand and now we’ve got in excess of 4.5k. friends.  We manage the page ourselves,  because knowing your audience is essential and if they like what you do then they share your work with others. For us authors who rely on crowdfunding to make their work a reality social media is something to embrace.

Answering interview questions can often take a long time! Tell me, are you ever tempted to recycle your answers from one to the next? 

It’s incredibly tempting, especially when you are doing a whole slew of interviews, as we’re doing now being so close to publication, but no! Everyone is entitled to equal time and consideration because every interview goes out to a whole new set of people and we believe in staying enthusiastic and energetic about what we do. We really believe that what we have in our book is pure gold and we’re so very keen to spread the word to everyone.

And finally… If one famous person who you admire were to read this book, who would you like it to be?

Keith Richards.. I think that anyone who laughs that much in interviews realises the absurdity and surreality of the industry he is ‘working’ in.

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An interview with Philippa Stasiuk, author of The Wonderful Whippet of Winifred Weatherwax

Writer, rover, animal and plant lover, Philippa has lived in Zimbabwe, where she’s from, South Korea, Mexico, New York, and Copenhagen. She grew up with Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Bichon Frises, Dachshunds and mutts. She now lives in Lincoln, Nebraska with her husband, two daughters and three cats, who have banded together and forbidden the acquisition of dogs. The Wonderful Whippet of Winifred Weatherwax is her first novel.

Everyone has a ‘first novel’, even if many of them are a rough draft relegated to the bottom and back of your desk drawer (or your external hard drive!). Have you been able to reshape yours, or have you abandoned it for good?

Winifred Weatherwax is my first novel, but it has many abandoned drafts, mostly those experimenting with different perspectives. I started my story by telling it from the perspective of the dog –both first and close third-person. Eventually, I realized the dog perspective could (and does) work for novels, but not for a mystery – at least not mine.

Some authors are able to pump out a novel a year and still be filled with inspiration. Is this the case for you, or do you like to let an idea percolate for a couple of years in order to get a beautiful novel?

When crafting a story, I refuse to be rushed. This book took me about seven years to write. Maybe with the next one, I can cut that time in half?

I have heard of writers that could only write in one place – then that cafe closed down and they could no longer write! Where do you find yourself writing most often, and on what medium (pen/paper or digital)?

Right now, I seem to only be able to write on my bed, or at a coffee shop with noise-silencing headphones on. My desk, for some reason, isn’t working. I generally sketch ideas (and plenty of doodles) in a notebook first before braving the blank page of the laptop.

Before going on to hire an editor, most authors use beta-readers. How do you recruit your beta-readers, and choose an editor? Are you lucky enough to have loving family members who can read and comment on your novel?

My story has to do with conformation dog shows. I found some extremely kind dog handlers through the American Whippet Club who gave me feedback on the rules and regulations of the shows. I still missed things though. I’ve already gotten one irate letter from an offended reader stating that even though they could, dachshunds never go first in the group hound judging. My husband has provided invaluable feedback too. He’s an architect now, but he was a lit major and did his thesis on Herman Melville.

I walk past bookshops and am drawn in by the smell of the books – ebooks simply don’t have the same attraction for me. Does this happen to you, and do you have a favourite bookshop? Or perhaps you are an e-reader fan… where do you source most of your material from?

I love bookshops, and was lucky enough to hold a book launch party at Francie & Finch, this magical little bookstore in Lincoln, Nebraska. I struggle with e-books as well. I want to fold down corners and underline and stuff old photos and lists between the pages of my books.

I used to find myself buying books in only one genre (fantasy) before I started writing this blog. What is your favourite genre, and have your tastes changed over time?

I’ve always loved gothic mysteries – good mysteries of any kind really. “Rebecca” by Daphne Du Maurier and “The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman were revelations to me. And I love beautiful writing. “Persuasion” by Jane Austen is a favorite, “Day” by A.L. Kennedy and “Holes” by Louis Sachar. I just read “Lincoln in the Bardo” by George Saunders, which is like absolutely nothing I’ve ever read.

Social media is a big thing, much to my disgust! I never have enough time myself to do what I feel is a good job. What do you do?

My day job is managing social media accounts so I feel pretty comfortable in that universe. I am, however, almost entirely focused on Facebook. I just don’t have time to do more. Twitter has never appealed to me as a medium so I’ve given up. I also created my own website for the book: https://www.winifredweatherwax.com/ because I like the idea of telling my own story.

Why did you choose Young Adult as your genre, and what makes it, as a genre, so special?

For young teens, discovering that they love being transported to another universe through words is so magical – at least it was for me. And I love the pride children take in telling you what their favorite books are. Because they’re realizing that their tastes are forming their own unique identity.

Over the years, what would you say has improved significantly in your writing?

Writing, in any form, will always lead to better writing. I’ve freelanced articles, written for newspapers, and been a copy editor and content writer. In every one of those spaces, there’s an opportunity to learn. Generally, dialogue comes much easier for me than exposition.

Blurb

Sometimes, bad things happen to good dogs. Winifred Weatherwax begins summer with a pedigreed puppy – a Whippet named Shumba with Best in Show written in his stars. But when Shumba starts winning, other hounds start disappearing. As more dogs vanish, Freddy and her new friend Eli team up to investigate a mystery that includes dishonest dog breeding, the colorful world of dog shows, a first crush, a nefarious villain, and chicanery more sinister than common dog theft. On her way, Winifred discovers the magical bond between humans and dogs.

Shipping info: The book ships in the US via Amazon, and anywhere in the world via the website.

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An Interview with Josie Jaffrey, author of the Solis Invicti series, and promoting here her latest novel The Gilded King!

I’m not going to be reviewing your newest novel, but from your other published novels, is there one that is your own personal favourite?

My favourite tends to be my latest work, because I like to think that I’m constantly improving as a writer (my latest book is my sixth). But if I had to pick a favourite out of my published novels, it would probably be the third book in theSolis Invicti series (a four-book paranormal romance series), The Silver Bullet. It has a really annoying cliffhanger of an ending, and it’s the book in which the emotional conflict of the series is finally fully revealed.

Everyone has a ‘first novel’, even if many of them are a rough draft relegated to the bottom and back of your desk drawer (or your external harddrive!). Have you been able to reshape yours, or have you abandoned it for good?

I’ve fully abandoned it, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Like many novelists, I started out writing as a teenager, thinking that I would write a serious and melodramatic piece of literary fiction that said very important things about how I saw the world. As I got older, I realised (thankfully) that it’s much easier to communicate meaningfully when you ditch the pretentiousness and concentrate on entertaining the reader, so now I write fantasy with vampires and zombies, although I’m increasingly moving towards historical fiction.

My first abandoned novels were great training, and I don’t regret the time I put into them, but writing is definitely more fun now I’m not trying so hard to be important.

Some authors are able to pump out a novel a year and still be filled with inspiration. Is this the case for you, or do you like to let an idea percolate for a couple of years in order to get a beautiful novel?

I’m a mixture of the two. I happily pump out two or three novels a year, but the ideas for those novels have been busy percolating for years while I write other things. I’m plotting twelve books at the moment while working on my latest draft, and I already know what the next seven books I write will be. It’s just a matter of finding the time to get them written!

I have heard of writers that could only write in one place – then that cafe closed down and they could no longer write! Where do you find yourself writing most often, and on what medium (pen/paper or digital)?

I’m definitely a digital girl. I like to write on a laptop, or on my iPad mini with a little keyboard, but I can write anywhere. My preferred place is somewhere quiet, ideally on my sofa with my cats, but I’ve written entire short stories on transatlantic flights before. The key for me is a calm environment in a safe corner so I can forget my surroundings and lose myself in my imagination.

Before going on to hire an editor, most authors use beta-readers. How do you recruit your beta-readers, and choose an editor? Are you lucky enough to have loving family members who can read and comment on your novel?

When I wrote my first novel, my family were among my beta readers, but I quickly realised that it wasn’t a great idea. Family relationships are often a bit fraught, and they’re not the people you want to ask to criticise your work. Parents in particular can rarely read with an unbiased and directed eye – they tend to focus on strange parts of the story because it’s written by their child, and that’s always at the front of their minds.

These days, I have a few book-loving friends who beta read for me, as well as a fellow writer and a bookshop-owning friend, who’s very good at story editing. My husband does a thorough proof read for me as well.

I walk past bookshops and am drawn in by the smell of the books – ebooks simply don’t have the same attraction for me. Does this happen to you, and do you have a favourite bookshop? Or perhaps you are an e-reader fan… where do you source most of your material from?

I actually like both physical and electronic books. Day-to-day I prefer paperbacks, particularly because I can support my favourite bookshop by buying them there (Wallingford Bookshop in Oxfordshire – it’s excellent), but also because I like the feel of a book in my hands. I like to be able to feel how far through a book I am, and get an idea of its length just from the spine width and type size. I find that difficult with ebooks, but I do still love my Kindle for holiday reading because it holds so many books. I get most of my ebooks from Netgalley, but I’ll also get them direct from Amazon onto my Kindle if I’m reading an exciting series and can’t wait to pick up a paperback of the next instalment. That’s something I do fairly frequently – I’m a sucker for a cliffhanger ending!

I used to find myself buying books in only one genre (fantasy) before I started writing this blog. What is your favourite genre, and do you have a favourite author who sticks in your mind?

I tend to read more fantasy and sci-fi than anything else at the moment, and a particular favourite is dystopian fiction, but I read quite widely in fiction and non-fiction.

When I was a kid, I read whatever was on my parents’ bookshelves, so my childhood was filled with Arthur Ransome and PG Wodehouse.

When I was a young teenager, my mum started reading Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, and then the entire family was hooked. I remember the frustration of having to wait for my dad to finish reading before I could have my turn! That series and Tom Holt dominated my young adult years (together with all the latest commercial fiction releases, which my mum always lent to me) before my reading life became inundated by the truckload of Roman and Ancient Greek Literature that I was reading for school and University (I have a degree in Classics from Oxford).

It wasn’t until I was an adult that I got into Terry Pratchett, and he quickly established himself as one of my favourite authors. I also started reading a lot of paranormal romance (Charlaine Harris, Kerrelyn Sparks) and I found my way to the classic sci-fi and horror of Philip K. Dick and H.P. Lovecraft, respectively. That took me on to Michael Marshall Smith, another favourite.
So, I’ve got a lot of favourites!

Social media is a big thing, much to my disgust! I never have enough time myself to do what I feel is a good job. How do you cope?

I use Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. On the first three, I try to post something every day (and frequently fail), and I post a few videos a month to YouTube. My following isn’t impressive on any of the platforms, because I just don’t devote enough time to it. Honestly, I’d rather be writing!

Answering interview questions can often take a long time! Tell me, are you ever tempted to recycle your answers from one to the next?

I don’t recycle answers, but if two people ask me the same question then they often get very similar responses! Interviewers are usually good about coming up with original questions, which make participating in interviews much more interesting for everyone. Thankfully, it also means the majority of the answers they receive contain something new from authors.

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